Sunday, February 24, 2013

"Scientists are once again reporting alarmingly high methane emissions from an oil and gas field, underscoring questions about the environmental benefits of the boom in natural-gas production that is transforming the US energy system.
The researchers, who hold joint appointments with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado in Boulder, first sparked concern in February 2012 with a study1 suggesting that up to 4% of the methane produced at a field near Denver was escaping into the atmosphere. If methane — a potent greenhouse gas — is leaking from fields across the country at similar rates, it could be offsetting much of the climate benefit of the ongoing shift from coal- to gas-fired plants for electricity generation."
" Industry officials and some scientists contested the claim, but at an
American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco, California,
last month, the research team reported new Colorado data that support
the earlier work, as well as preliminary results from a field study in
the Uinta Basin of Utah suggesting even higher rates of methane leakage —
an eye-popping 9% of the total production. That figure is nearly double
the cumulative loss rates estimated from industry data — which are
already higher in Utah than in Colorado."
http://www.nature.com/news/methane-leaks-erode-green-credentials-of-natural-gas-1.12123